Leonidas White Chocolate Caramel Blended

I’ve been a big fan of the Southern California Leonidas Cafes for  some time now. They not only have excellent, fresh Belgian chocolates, but they have coffee drinks (mostly with chocolate), too! My summer favorite is the blended White Chocolate Caramel Coffee drink. Unlike other white chocolate drinks, like the ones at Starbucks, this one isn’t too sweet at all and has the same creamy, milky flavor that you find in a really good white chocolate – complete with notes of vanilla. The caramel increases the sweetness of the drink slightly, but it also adds a buttery richness. That said, the drink is very smooth and light. It’s easy to drink a big one, as they’re much less filling than similar drinks at some other coffee houses.

No new summer drinks from Starbucks?

Starbucks rolled out new menu boards and signs (which are very nice, by the way) to launch their summer promotions this week, but unlike last summer and the summer before, the “new” menu doesn’t include any new drinks. Probably due to cost cutting somewhere down the line, Starbucks has opted to promote Caramel Frappuccinos and Iced Coffee as their two big summer beverages this year. Both these drinks are good – and you can get the iced coffee sweetened or with mild added to it if you’re not the black coffee drinking type – but it’s a bit of a let down for some customers who look forward to trying something new. They have to wait until the next promo period comes around to see if any new drinks make the cut then.

If you want a new Starbucks drink right now, consider heading over to a Barnes and Noble Cafe Starbucks instead. The one I checked out this week was offering Mocha Mint Chip Frappuccinos (which have been available at the regular ‘bucks before) and Mocha Toffee Chip Frappuccinos.

Starbucks launches breakfast pairings

Starting this week, Starbucks is rolling out a new value-inspired concept for breakfast: breakfast pairings. Essentially, these pairings are all food plus beverage combinations that give you a discount over the price of the two items purchased separately. The combinations include:

• Tall Caffè Latte paired with:
  - Starbucks Perfect Oatmeal, 100% whole grain goodness made-to-order with three conveniently portioned toppings, including dried fruit, nut medley and brown sugar; or
  - Reduced-Fat Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake, a moist buttery cake with a cinnamon swirl center topped with a cinnamon crumble.
• Tall Fresh Brewed Coffee paired with:
  - NEW Artisan Bacon Sandwich, a flavorful bakery-style sandwich made with a parmesan egg frittata, smoked bacon slices, and Gouda cheese on a perfectly-baked hand-shaped artisan roll; or
  - NEW Artisan Ham Sandwich, a delightful combination made with a parmesan egg frittata, three slices of Black Forest ham, and mild cheddar on a perfectly-baked hand-shaped artisan roll; or
  - Sausage Breakfast Sandwich, a tasty teaming of sausage, egg and mild cheddar on an English muffin; or
  - Reduced-Fat Turkey Bacon Breakfast Sandwich, lighter option featuring reduced-fat turkey bacon, cholesterol-free egg, and reduced-fat aged white cheddar on a multi-grain English muffin.

Each of the pairings is just $3.95, and you could end up saving as much as $1.25 on an order by picking the combination over separates. Not a bad deal. If you want a mocha, or vanilla latte, or something instead of a plain latte, you’ll just be charged extra for the addition of syrup to the breakast pairing. You won’t have to miss out on the deal entirely.

Topless coffee shop opens in Maine

In the fairly small town of Vassalboro, Maine, a new coffee shop opened its doors last week. A topless coffee shop. The owner, Donald Crabtree, said “I know what people want. People like nudity, and coffee is profitable.” He certainly makes a good point, but the combination still is a highly unusual one to introduce.

The coffee shop has 15 employees – 10 women and 5 men – of all ages (over 18, of course) and body types, “from skinny to big-boned women” and every one of them works topless. The owner says that the place is doing well already, even in an otherwise slow economy, largely because people are really cheered up by visiting the store. Of course, since the shop has only been open for a week, there is no telling how the coffee shop will do once the novelty wears off. If it does well, we might start to see similar venues open in other locations.

Pancake Latte for Pancake Day

Today is Shrove Tuesday – a.k.a. Pancake Day in much of the world. Shrove Tuesday is another name for Fat Tuesday, or the start of Mardi Gras. The pancakes enter into the equation because in England (which is where the name Shrove Tuesday comes from), things like butter, milk and eggs were not to be consumed during Lent. Making big batches of pancakes was a great way to use up these ingredients and enjoy some indulgence before the 40-day Lent period.

Whether you’re religious or not (with respect to Lent, in this instance), just about everyone can ge behind the idea of a day to celebrate pancakes. IHOP is even giving out a free short stack of pancakes to all customers between 7am and 10am!

There is a way to get some pancakes infused into your day even if you’re not much of a cook. You can create a pancake latte at Starbucks. It’s not on the menu and it looks very strange, but tastes pretty much exactly like pancakes. The drink in question? A green tea latte – no water – with toffee nut syrup. Get any kind of milk you like in the drink, although soy is a pretty good choice for the extra bit of vanilla flavor.

It may not look like pancakes, but it does taste like them. And if you’re not cooking or going for the real thing, it’s definitely not a bad substitute.